Dale Earnhardt Jr. has a 12-year-old niece who could continue the Earnhardt legacy in the sport.

And that means that Karsyn Elledge, whose mom is Earnhardt’s sister, Kelley Earnhardt Miller, will get opportunities to succeed.

That, in turn, will prompt doubters to question whether she deserves any of the rides she gets.

Several drivers, such as Joey Logano, had family support for their early years in racing and some even carry that all the way to Cup. Such support has attracted criticism from detractors who claim that they were handed their opportunities in racing and didn’t earn them.

The debate cropped again recently when Logano was criticized by an angry Tony Stewart after their confrontation at Auto Club Speedway March 24. Stewart called Logano “a little rich kid that has never had to work in his life.”

Earnhardt Jr. also has faced such criticism while trying to follow in the footsteps of one of the most popular and accomplished drivers in the history of the sport. Earnhardt Jr. has often recounted how his father made him work hard and earn most of his opportunities.

Elledge has been quite successful in go-karts and runs the No. 3 made famous by her grandfather, Dale Earnhardt Sr.

“Talent speaks for itself,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “Hopefully she's talented enough. No matter what your background, what your path is to where you are, if you have talent, you belong and you earn respect through that talent.

“If you're really good at your job and really good at what you do, it won't matter how you got there.”

Earnhardt isn’t worried about the doubters as much as he wants his niece to treat people the right way.

“If we have the opportunity years down the road and she's chosen to seek out driving racecars as a career, I would support her as much as I can, but I'd be just as hard on her as anybody, especially about how you treat people, how to get people to rally around you and just how you treat people with respect,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “That's really important to me.”